Saturday Poetry Corner 52: Kim Sowol's Poems

Daecheong Lake

Today, a handful of poems by Kim Sowol - one of the most beloved poets in Korea. 

In Korean they have some wonderful flow to them, so I tried to choose the best translation as possible.

The most famous is of course 

Azaleas

If you would go,
Tiring of me,
Nothing will I say.

I shall pick azaleas
At the Yaksan, Yeongbyeon,
And deck the path you tread.

Tread gently
On my azaleas
Where the path is decked.

If you would go,
Tiring of me,
No cry shall you hear of mine.

(from here)

 

And some others:

Silken Mist

The unforgetable memory comes back again
When the silken mist spreads over the snow.
It was then we met and then we wept.
It was then that the torment was more than we could bear.

When the silken mist spreads over the snow,
Life is not to live alone.
It was then a lass sought death for herself
When the snow began to melt.

When the silken mist spreads over the snow,
The larks begin to soar in the sky.
It is then the spirit is gay
With the fragrance of the field, the sea, and the sky.

The unforgetable memory comes back
When the silken mist spreads over the snow.
It was then we first made love.
It was then we parted with hearts in two.

(from here)

I Didn't Know Till Now

That the moon rises nightly, in spring or fall,
I didn't know till now.

How much I'd suffer from longing
I didn't know till now.

That the moon is there, no matter how bright,
I didn't know till now.

That the moon is for all the sorrow
I didn't know till now.

(from here) 

 

Invocation*

O, name shattered.
O, name vanished into thin air.
O, name without response to my call.
O, name I will be calling till death.

You’ve gone before, I have said,
one last word etched on my heart.
O, my love nearest my heart,
nearest my heart.

The red sun hangs over the western peaks.
Even a herd of deer laments.
I am calling to you
as I stand on a lone hill.

I call to you till sorrow chokes me,
sorrow chokes me.
But my voice rings hollow in the vast void
between heaven and earth.

Should I turn to stone
I will be calling to you.
O, my love nearest my heart,
nearest my heart.

translated by J. Kim & R.B. Hatch

(from here) 

However I prefer other translation, maybe not as famous, so I typed it down from the Azaleas translation book by David McCann.

Invocation

O name broken in pieces!
O name dispersed into the emptiness!
O name I call that no one owns!
O name that I will die calling!

Even at the last I could not say
The one word left in my heart.
O you that I loved!
O you that I loved!

The red sun is caught on the mountain ridge.

A heard of deer cry sorrowfully.

On the mountain where it stops, about to fall,

I call out your name.

 

In grief overwhelming I call.

In grief overwhelming I call.

Though my cry goes bending away,

the space between sky and earth is too vast.

Even turned to stone where I stand on this spot,

O name that I will die calling!

O you that I loved!

O you that I loved!

(page 137, Azaleas: A Book of Poems)

The original title is 초혼 which means calling out to the dead. The tradition asked for the performer of this funeral rite (a family) to go up to the roof of the house, to face north and wave the coat or an upper garment in that direction while calling out the name of the deceased three times.

In 2018 I went to the theater for a Korean ensemble drama that was performed here only twice. It was about performing chohon for a comfort woman. It was hard, people.